FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cameron A. Straughan

 

Cameron A. Straughan receives national recognition

through the NYC BIG BOOK AWARD®!

 

Glen Ridge, NJ  – The NYC Big Book Award recognized The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen in the category of  Comedy as a winner.

The competition is judged by experts from different aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, designers, booksellers, librarians and professional copywriters. Winners and distinguished favorites are based on overall excellence.

​

The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen

A collection of bizarre, hilarious, and strangely profound interconnected short stories, The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen is a deadpan comedy for anyone who has ever felt like the world makes no sense—and wondered if maybe that’s okay.

Is the chaos of contemporary life getting you down? Need some fun? Craving a good laugh? Brain needs a stretch? ESCAPE! Dive into the world of Anthony Zen – a brilliantly weird and deeply funny mix of absurd humor, satire, and low-key philosophy. Experience Anthony Zen’s unshakable selfhood in an absurd world gone mad, remaining calm and unfazed while life throws surreal nonsense at him – a modern-day Zen absurdist hero for these uncertain times!

A must-read for fans of Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, and Terry PratchettPerfect for readers who love deadpan humor, satire, and absurdist fiction

 

NYC Big Book Award received book submissions worldwide. Journalists, well established authors, small and large press, and first time indie authors participated in record numbers.  Entries this year were received from the United States as well as countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Dubai, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.  Cities represented among the entries were Chicago, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Quebec, Rome, San Francisco, Seattle, Singapore, and Victoria.

​

Publishers included Berrett-Koehler; Brown Books Kids; Central Avenue / Simon & Schuster; Forbes Books; Muse Literary; New Harbinger Publications; New York University Press; Oxford University Press; Pegasus Books; She Writes Press; University of Massachusetts Press to name a few.

​

Winners included “What is My Legacy?” by Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, Marc Kielburger and Craig Kielburger; “Mikhail Gorbachev – How he changed our lives” by Bettina Schaefer; Berrett-Koehler’s “From Founder to Future: A Business Roadmap to Impact, Longevity, and Employee Ownership” by John Abrams; The Cooking Lab’s “Modernist Bread at Home” by Nathan Myhrvold; and “Wild Fox Ridge” by Xue Mo to name some key titles on the awarded list.

 

“With so many quality publishers and authors from around the world participating this year, I’m eager to share these books with a global readership,” said awards sponsor Gabby Olczak.

​

To view the list of NYC Big Book winners and distinguished favorites, please visit: https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/

NYC Big Book Award, https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/, is announced every fall. NYC Big Book Award is open to all authors, publishers, and illustrators, and includes submissions from the big five publishers including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster.

​​

Join us for the Independent Press Award, deadlines every December and announced every spring, is open to independent authors and publishers. To see this year’s list of IPA Winners, visit: https://www.independentpressaward.com/2025winners

And, join us for the Awards Dinner on April 25th, https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/awardsdinner, held at the BookCAMP event, April 24-25, 2026, https://www.ipabookcamp.com, where recipients from both programs will walk on stage to receive their awards.